Assembling mechanism for typographical machines



e -l 194i- E. M. GOODBODY 2,232,446

ASSEMBLY MECHANISM FOR TYPOGRAPHICAL MACHINES Filed Nav. 19, 1940 INVENTOR EDMUND M. soooaow ATTQRN EY Patented Feb. 18, 1941 PATENT OFFICE 'ASSEMBLING MECHANISM FOR TYPO- GRAPHICAL MACHINES Edmund M. Goodbody, Bellerose, N. Y., assignor to Intertype Corporation, Brooklyn, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application November 19, 1940, Serial No. 366,210

12 Claims. The present invention relates to typographical machines of the general organizationrepresented in U. S. Letters Patent No- 436,532 granted September 16, 1890, wherein characters bearing metrices stored in channeled magazines are released therefrom in response to manipulation of a keyboard, the matrices when released descending by gravity through passages formed by a. series of vertical guides or partitions of a so-called 8.5-.-

sembler front which direct them flatwise onto a constantly running downwardly inclined belt whereby they are delivered to a common point of assembly in front of a rotating star wheel, the latter acting to turn the matrices upright to form a compact assembled line thereof and such line being subsequently presented before a suitable mold for the purpose of casting a type bearin slug.

More particularly the invention relates to im-' 0 provements in the so-called assembled front of such machines and is directed more specifically to the arrangement of the inclined power driven delivery belt which picks up the descending matrices and carries them to the star wheel, and the relation between said belt and the vertical guides which direct the released matrices onto the belt. Heretofore there-has been provided a rigid supporting plate underlying the upper stretch of the delivery belt between the upper and lower pulleys over which the belt passes, said plate serving to maintain the top side or matrix receiving surface of the belt at a fixed distance from the lower ends of the vertical guides of the assembler front, the lower ends of these guides being curved lettward to aid in turning the matrices toward the star wheel and being unanchored in order to flex or yield freely as the matrices pass out from between adjacent guides onto the running belt. v

In practice the machines are called upon to handle matrix fonts ranging in size from the small 5-point text fonts, through 18, 24, 36 and even larger point sizes, the body thickness of the respective matrices in the different size fonts varying accordingly, Thus, with the matrix delivery belt supported in fixed spaced relation to the lower ends of the assembler front guides there is considerable variation in the behavior of thin and thick matrices as they turn onto the belt and pass beneath the guides in their travel to the star wheel. The fact is that the thin matrices have a fair amount of freedom as they turn while passing out from between adjacent guides and as they move along on the belt while the "thick matrices have less freedom and consequently a tendency to slow up as they turn and pass onto the belt and to drag due to contact with the free ends of the guides as they pass beneath them.

. One object of the invention is to provide for a 5 limited adjustment of the matrix delivery belt relative to the lower ends of the series of assembler front guides whereby to improve the smoothness and uniformity of speed of assembly of matrices of all sizes. To this end the underlying '10 supporting plate for the belt is secured as usual near its upper end to the back plate of the assembler front proper but is capable of springingin response to different settings of an eccentric collar associated with the lower end of the plate :15 and within convenientreach of the operator. A further object of the invention is to provide for a slight yield of the belt relative to its supporting plate so as to cushion the fall of matrices thereon and to facilitate turning of the matrices 20 onto the running belt as they pass out from between adjacent guides. For this purpose the upper fiat stretch of the belt near the lower end thereof passes over a roller. the periphery of which lies somewhat above the level of the belt :25 supporting plate, the roller being carried on a suitable bracket secured to the plate and movable therewith during adjustments thereof.

In the accompanying drawing, one. embodiment of the invention is shown, by way of ex- '30 ample, and obviously many changes and variations may be made in the arrangement and combination of parts and in their mode of operation.

It is to beunderstood, therefore, that the invention is not limited to any specific form or em- 35 bodiment except insofar as such limitations are expressed in the claims.

In the drawing:

' Fig, 1 is a front elevation of the assembler front of a typographical machine with the ad- '40 justable delivery belt support of the invention applied thereto and set in the lower position.

Fig. 2 shows a portion of the assembler front in Fig. 1 on an enlarged scale and the adjustable belt support of the invention set in the upper 45 position.

Fig. 3 shows the lower end of the adjustable g elt support as viewed from the underside in i-g. 2. I y

The assembler front .to which the invention is .50 herein applied is of the usual construction in which a series of guides or partitions I suitably secured to a back plat-e 2 form vertical passages 3 through which matrices stored as usual in the V channeled magazine 4 fall by gravitywhile con-- fined by the guides I when they are released by manipulation of a keyboard (not shown), the keys of the latter actuating the well known escapement devices (not shown) associated with the magazine, The back plate 2 is secured as usual to a fixed portion of the machine frame in which is also mounted upper'and lower pulleys 5 and 6 respectively over which runs the matrix delivery belt I, said belt being inclined downwardly toward the assembler star wheel 8 which is disposed opposite the entrance end of the well known assembling elevator 9. The lower pulley 6 is power driven through suitable connections to the intermediate shaft of the machine in a manner well understood by those familiar with these machines and such driving connections are omitted from the drawing since they form no part of the present invention. Above the. star wheel 8 is the usual chute spring III which deflects the matrices M toward the star wheel when they reach the turning point of the belt around the lower pulley 6, it being understood that upon reaching the lower or exit end of the passages 3 the matrices are picked up by the belt 7 running in the direction indicated by the arrows in Figs. 1 and 2, and that they lie flatwise on the belt in their travel toward the chute spring. As shown, the successive guides I from right to left across the front are increasingly longer in correspondence with the inclination of the belt 7', their lower ends being normally spaced a predetermined substantially uniform distance clear of the belt and being curved leftward to aid the matrices in turning onto the'running belt. The lower ends of the guides are also unanchored and thus free to flex or yield so as to ease the escape of the matrices as they turn onto the belt and as they, are carried thereby past the ends of. the guides,

Ordinarily there is provided under the upper stretch of the delivery belt a belt supporting plate rigidly secured toward its upper and lower ends to the back plate 2 of the assembler front and intended to maintain the upper stretch of the belt at a fixed distance from the lower ends of the guides or partitions I, a distance calculated to accommodate a wide range of sizes of matrices as represented by fonts all the way from. 5 points to 36 points and even larger.

With such wide range of sizes of matrices however this fixed spaced relation between the belt and the guides is not altogether satisfactory, it being found that the thin matrices from fonts of small point size have. ample and sometimes excessixe clearance beneath the guides and free! dom for turning onto the belt while the thick matrices from fonts of larger point size tend to slow up in turning onto the belt and in passing along beneath the guides. This condition is objectionable because it results in variations in speed or time of travel of the different. size matrices to the assembling point and thus disturbs the smoothness of the assembling operation in general. The arrangements according to the present invention and now to be described aim to enable the space between the belt and the guides to be altered from an adequate minimum for thin matrices to an adequate maximum for the thicker matrices and vice versa.

According to the invention the delivery belt supporting plate II having secured thereto an angle bracket I 2 near its upper end is firmly secured to the back plate 2 by means of a screw I3. Secured to the plate I2 toward its lower end is an angle bracket I4 having in its downwardly extending arm an elongated 'slot I5 through which passes a stud or shoulder screw I6 secured in the back plate 2. Between the head of the screw I6 and the downwardly extending arm of bracket I4 is an eccentrically mounted collar I! having a handle I8 whereby to turn the collar about the screw I6 when desired. The arrangement is such that the forward projecting arm I4 of the bracket I4 rests freely on the periphery of the collar I 1.

On the underside of the belt supporting plate II and at the lower end, thereof is secured as by screws a bracket I9 formed with side arms 20 at right angles thereto between which arms and on a shaft 2| secured therein is mounted a pair of rollers 2-2, the periphery of the rollers 22 lying somewhat above the top surface of the belt supporting plate II as clearly indicated in Figs. 1 and 2.

It will now be seen that by turning the eccentric collar I! the belt supporting plate II may be adjusted up and down, the plate springing about the upper mounting screw I3 as a fulcrum point. As seen. in Fig. 1. the collar I1 is set so that the plate II is in the lowest position of adjustment, this setting providing the maximum clearance for the free passage of relatively thick matrices beneath the lower ends of the vertical guides I and providing adequate freedom. for such matrices to turn freely as they pass out from betweenv adjacent guides onto the running belt. In Fig. 2 the collar I1 is set so that the plate II is in the highest position, this. setting providing the minimum clearance between the guides I and the belt and adequate space for relatively thin matrices to turn freely asthey pass out from between adjacent guides onto the delivery belt.

Obviously the belt supporting plate II may be left free to pivot about its upper supporting screw if desired, it being apparent that such arrangement would simply involve the substitution of a shouldered screw in place of the screw I 3. Moreover, it will be evident that due tothe. disposition of the surface of rollers 22 the delivery belt I, over the greater extent of its upper stretch, stands clear of the upper surface of the supporting plate II at both settings of the eccentric collar I1, thus leaving a free space 23 between the. plate and the belt. The provision of such free space enables the belt to flex not only. under the impact of the matrices falling thereon by gravity through the passages 3 but alsoasthe matrices discharge from the passages and turn onto the running belt. Thus, with the belt adjusted to thelower position as in Fig. 1, flexing of the free ends of the guides as heretofore and flexing also of the delivery belt due to the free space 23 beneath it as herein provided enables the thicker matrices to turnand pass onto the belt more freely than heretofore and thus with little or no tendency to slow up in their travel to the star wheel. With the belt adjusted to the high position as in Fig. 2, flexing of the delivery belt dueto free space 23- beneath it as well as flexing of the guides I enables relatively thin matrices to turn and pass out onto the belt with greater freedom and facility than heretofore. thus effecting smooth and uninterrupted delivery thereof to the star Wheel.

The relative difference between the high and low positions of the delivery belt I will be seen in Figs. 1 and- 2, the high position being indicatedby dot-dash lines in Fig. 1 and in full lines in Fig. 2, and the low position being indicated by full lines in Fig. 1 and dot-dash lines in Fig. 2. It will be noted that the maximum change in the elevation of the belt is toward the lower end thereof at the point of contact of the rollers 22. This arrangement is preferred for the reason that the capital letter matrices of a font which fall onto the upper portions of the belt are always somewhat thicker than the lower-case letter matrices which fall onto the lower portion of the belt. Thus it has been found sufficient for all practical purposes to provide a gradual alteration in the setting or elevation of the belt with the greatest change occurring toward the lower end thereof.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. An assembler front for typographical machines including, in combination, an inclined power driven matrix delivery belt, a series of vertical guides adapted to direct matrices descending therebetween onto the belt and spaced at their lower ends at such distance above the belt as to guide and confine the matrices fiatwise but permit their discharge freely from between adjacent guides, and manually adjustable means for altering at will the spaced relation between said belt and the ends of said guides.

2. An assembler front for typographical machines including, in combination, an inclined power driven matrix delivery belt, a. series of vertical guides adapted to direct matrices descending therebetween onto the belt and spaced at their lower ends a substantially uniform distance above the belt to provide a limited space for the guiding and turning flatwise of the matrices while discharging from between adjacent guides and for their passage while on the belt beneath the ends of the guides, and manually adjustable means for altering at will the space allotted for said turning, discharge and passage of the matrices.

3. An assembler front for typographical machines including, in combination, an inclined power driven matrix delivery belt, a series of vertical guides adapted to direct matrices descending therebetween onto the belt and spaced at their lower ends at such distance above the belt as to permit the matrices while guided by said ends to turn fiatwise from a vertical to an inclined position during their discharge from between adjacent guides, and manually adjustable means associated with said belt and operative to set the matrix receiving surface thereof at different distances from the lower ends of said guides whereby to permit the turning and discharge freely of matrices of different thicknesses.

angles of inclination and correspondingly altering the inclination and the spacing of the surface of the belt relative to the lower ends of said guides.

5. An assembler front for typographical machines including, in combination, an inclined matrix delivery belt, a similarly inclined underlying belt supporting plate, and means for simultaneously setting said belt and said supporting plate at different angles of inclination.

6. An assembler front for typographical machines including, in combination, an inclined matrix delivery belt stretched over upper and lower pulleys, a belt supporting plate underlying the upper stretch of the belt between said pulleys and secured in fixed position near the end thereof adjacent the upper pulley, and manually adjustable means operative to sustain the lower end of said supporting plate at different elevations and thereby dispose the upper stretch of the delivery belt at different angles of inclination.

7. An assembler front for typographical machines including, in combination, an inclined belt stretched over upper and lower pulleys and adapted to receive on its upper stretch matrices descending by gravity thereon, a belt supporting plate underlying the upper stretch of the belt between said pulleys, and means sustaining the belt out of immediate contactwith said underlying plate to thereby permit said belt to yield under the impact of the descending matrices.

8. A combination as set forth in claim 7, wherein the means sustaining the belt out of contact with its underlying supporting plate is secured to the latter and presents at a point adjacent to the lower pulley a surface disposed above the level of the plate and over which the belt passes before reaching the lower pulley.

9. A combination as set forth in claim 7, wherein the means sustaining the belt out of contact with its supporting plate comprises a roller mounted in a bracket on the plate with the periphery of the roller projecting above the belt supporting surface of the plate.

10. A combination as set forth in claim 6, including as a further element, a roller mounted at the lower end of the belt supporting plate with the periphery of the roller disposed above the belt supporting surface of the plate, said roller being adapted to sustain the belt out of immediate contact with said plate when the latter is sustained at different elevations.

11. A combination as set forth in claim 6, wherein the adjustable means operative to sustain the lower end of the belt supporting plate at different elevations comprises an eccentric collar on which the supporting plate rests freely, said collar being adapted to turn about a fixed stud to thereby change the elevation of the lower end of the supporting plate.

12. A combination as set forth in claim 6, including as a further element, a roller mounted at the lower end of the belt supporting plate with the periphery of the roller disposed above the belt supporting surface of the plate, and wherein the adjustable means set forth together with said roller constitute means for disposing the upper stretch of the delivery belt at different angles of inclination.

EDMUND M. GOODBODY. 

